Goal 6

"Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all"

Lack of water, deterioration of water quality, and insufficient sanitation have a negative impact on food security, livelihood, and educational opportunities for poor families around the world. Currently, more than 2 billion people live at the risk of freshwater depletion, and by 2050, at least one in four will live under the influence of chronic and repetitive water shortages. In particular, drought causes damage to the poorest countries that aggravate hunger and nutritional deficiency. Fortunately, significant progress has been made in drinking water and hygiene over the past decade, with more than 90% of the world's population currently accessing improved drinking water sources.

In order to improve the water condition and supply accessibility, developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, Eastern Asia and Southeast Asia need to expand investments in regional water ecosystem and sanitation management.

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In its own reporting on progress made towards achieving SDG 6, the North Korean state has shared that it is achieving slow progress in the provision of safe drinking water and clean sanitation. The DPRK government recognises the importance of improving water quality and the multiple challenges in increasing the effectiveness of water use and tackling drinking water shortages. In relation to this, the North Korean authorities indicate that the application of gravity fed water supply systems has had a positive impact.

The DPRK enacted the Law on the Control of Mineral Water on October 12, 2017. The government claims that it has contributed to the improvement of the quality of tap water via the introduction of nano technology to the purification and disinfection of tap water. Additionally, North Korean authorities have built mineral water factories to provide people with quality drinking water.

According to information published in Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the state has been disinfecting facilities for provision of drinking water according to established standards in order to ensure the safety and hygiene of the North Korean citizens. Moreover, the state has taken the necessary measures to provide citizens of urban areas in both the capital and the provinces with clean drinking water during the rainy season, which is often associated with flooding and contamination of water sources. This involves the execution of inspection rounds in Pyongyang, where areas that can be affected by the heavy rains are identified and the proper functioning of water pumps is checked.

In its 2021 VNR report, the DPRK stated that “In the country, the gravity fed water supply system (GFS) has been proven effective and introduced widely, contributing to drinking water supply to the residents.” and further mentioned that “In 2018, a provision to give priority to GFS in construction of water supply systems was added to the detailed enforcement regulation of the Law on Water Supply.” The North Korean government has reported that it has increased its processing capacity threefold and is able to effectively apply biological purification technology to manage waste water.

The DPRK also mentioned in its 2021 VNR report that “Projects are underway for integrated water resources management (IWRM) in cooperation with neighboring countries.” Moreover, according to the report, the law on IWRM was adopted, relevant institutions created, and infrastructure for rational use of water resources was built according to the plan. Additionally, North Korean authorities have shared in the past with UNESCO that severe meteorological conditions have pushed the state to focus on integrated water resource management such as construction of banks to prevent flooding at the Taedong River. The North Korean government has also shared plans for integrated water resource management project for ecosystem recovery in North Pyongan Province.

[Interview by NKDB in 2019 (NKDB Unified Human Rights Database)]

[Interview by NKDB in 2019 (NKDB Unified Human Rights Database)]

[Interview by NKDB in 2019 (NKDB Unified Human Rights Database)]

[Interview by NKDB in 2019 (NKDB Unified Human Rights Database)]

[Interview by NKDB in 2019 (NKDB Unified Human Rights Database)] 

Estimates show that 8.4 million people in North Korea (33% of the population) need humanitarian support in relation to water and sanitation with only about 0.3 million people targeted by aid in this category. This share increases to 50% of the total population in rural areas. Furthermore, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) data provided by UNICEF indicates that, as of 2017, 83% of the population uses untreated drinking water. The rate of installment of indoor water supply plants is considered to be standard and shows an increasing tendency. At the same time, 2019 data shows that 61% of North Korean people have access to safely managed drinking water. When broken down according to geographical area, this share is 71% in urban areas and 45% in rural areas. What is of bigger concern is that almost a quarter of all households in North Korea drink water contaminated with faecal matter. Most homes don’t have access to the sewer system and are not equipped with a septic tank, so as a result, only 48% have access to correctly managed sanitation. Pyongyang and North Hamgyong Province emerge as the two regions with the higher percentage of people using safe drinking services, while provinces such as South Pyongan, North and South Hwanghae and Gangwon demonstrate the lowest percentage of such access.

Poor conditions of sanitation facilities and unsafe disposal of human waste threaten the lives of 3 out of 10 people in urban areas and 9 out of 10 people in rural ones in North Korea. Many households use onsite sanitation facilities with unsafe disposal of excreta or facilities that can be referred to as open defecation environment. The lack of access to improved drinking water source is leading to 60% higher chance of stunting in children and 36% higher chance of diarrhoea in children under five.

The shortage of electricity in the DPRK combined in some cases with lack of reservoir water forces residents to seek drinking water from unsafe sources such as waterways. Bottled mineral water sold in North Korea is too expensive, with 500 ml costing almost a month’s salary. Therefore buying mineral water is not affordable for the majority of the population. The power shortages in the country affect the effectiveness of water treatment plants, which are in some cases renovated but without being powered with electricity are of little use. According to an internal source, as a result many North Koreans have to boil their tap water in order to avoid developing severe diseases.

In the field of transboundary water cooperation, the DPRK has had more active engagement with China and partially South Korea. The Yalu and Tumen river basins are transboundary for China and the DPRK, and the Imjin River and the Han River basin and its aquifer - for the DPRK and South Korea. In 2009, North Korea withdrew from the Greater Tumen Initiative, an intergovernmental cooperation mechanism (currently among China, Mongolia, South Korea and Russia) and has not indicated its intention to re-join the partnership. North Korea’s cooperation with China in relation to the Yalu and Tumen Rivers and resource management and sharing of hydroelectricity has been the focus of cooperation in the Yalu River basin. However, according to the East Asia Institute, the biennial meetings between officials from the two governments also include discussions on the treatment of illegal migrants and travellers on the border,which is clearly related to the issue of forced repatriation of North Korean defectors by the Chinese authorities. Additionally, efforts in the Tumen River basin ideally should be focusing more on water quality as the river water has been examined to show extremely high levels of pollution thus making it unfit for drinking water use by the nearby population in both China and North Korea. Cooperation between South and North Korea on the management of the Imjin River and the Han River basin has been challenged by the volatile nature of the inter-Korean relations. Many water management cooperation projects initiated by South Korea have been designed as potential steps towards improvement of relations and unification. However issues such as poor communications and difficulty of operating with resources located in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) have stalled cooperation. Moreover, occasional unannounced releases of dam water from facilities operated by North Korea cause damages on the South Korean side of the Imjin River.

In relation to the protection of water-related ecosystems, in 2018 the DPRK acceded to the UN Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. As a result, two sites in North Korea have been designated as Wetlands of International Importance - Rason Migratory Bird Reserve and Mundok Migratory Bird Reserve.Moreover, as a result of the consistent work of organisations such as Hanns Seidel Foundation, there has been an increase in the awareness in the DPRK on the linkages between protection of the environment (and ecosystems), improvement of the living conditions of North Korean people in rural areas, and sustainable development. Cooperation with North Korean authorities on wetlands preservation has been challenging due to the isolated nature of the regime and political differences between partners, but some important progress has been made in recent years that has potential positive impacts on regulation of floods and management of sources of food and drinking water.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Mission in the DPRK has contributed significantly to the improvement of the water access of peri-urban communities in North Korea. Most recently ICRC has worked on projects in South Hamgyong and South Pyongan Provinces, working with local authorities on construction of wells, pipelines, filtration systems, distribution networks for supplying water to households, and the installation of gravity flow water-supply systems.

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